Freezing Strawberries

Have you frozen some strawberries yet? Well, get on with it! Here’s how:

Choose strawberries that are all about the same size, but don’t get crazy here. Nature is fabulously random. I like to freeze strawberries that are a large bite-size, perfect for popping in my mouth and thawing slowly until they are a sweet, juicy reminder of summer in the dark, dead middle of the New England winter. Gently rinse the berries with cold running water, in a colander, and gently dry on a clean kitchen towel.

Remove the hull, using your preferred method, (Google if you’ve never trimmed a strawberry before, you’ll be amazed how many different ways people have tried this), and gently mix with sugar in a bowl. I have tried freezing with no sugar, with a lot of sugar, and with a bit of sugar, and I’ve found that about 1 tablespoon per pound helps the berries retain their color without overly sweetening them.

Lay out on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet in a single layer, and place in the freezer until frozen solid. This helps to keep them from becoming a strawberry monolith in the freezer bag.

Yep, this bag. I pack them about one pound per bag, remove as much air as possible, seal tightly, and store in the freezer until I need an infusion of summer’s first sunshine and rain in my life. They keep quite nicely in a deep freeze for 8-9 months, but after that they might start to taste a bit freezer-y. You know what I mean, I know you do. But don’t get me wrong; that does not keep me from eating them. They’re still better than any grocery store strawberry during the winter.

The season’s getting away from you. Freeze strawberries today. See you again soon.